Riot Games has released the Patch Notes for League of Legends (LoL) Patch 26.20 with some meta-defining updates.
26.20 is the update that LoL Worlds 2026 will be played on, meaning a lot of balance changes have been made with pro play in mind.
But the update is also making controversial changes to the replay system and will see the release of the new HEARTSTEEL LoL skins.
Here are all the champion buffs and nerfs as well as everything else new in LoL Patch 26.20.
LoL Patch 26.20 Champion Nerfs
Ambessa
Riot claims Ambessa has been too reliable in her late-game output for players with high mastery in all brackets, especially pro-play.
- Passive – Drakehound’s Step
- Damage: 5 – 30 (+25% bonus AD) ⇒ 5 – 25 (+20% bonus AD)
Ashe
Ashe is one of the premier marksmen in pro play right now, and Riot is seeing her output too much raw damage for a marksman with her level of utility.
- Base Stats
- Attack Damage per Level: 3.5 ⇒ 3
Cassiopeia
Riot is mostly happy with the changes to Cassiopeia two patches ago, but is taking another swing at her early resources because of how dominant she still is in early laning, making her work a little harder to create an advantage.
- Base Stats
- Base Health: 630 ⇒ 610
- Base Mana: 480 ⇒ 450
K’Sante
Riot is looking to make K’Sante less reliable as a blind pick in coordinated play by hurting his early mana and consistent W damage reduction.
- W – Path Maker
- Mana Cost: 40 / 45 / 50 / 55 / 60 ⇒ 45 / 50 / 55 / 60 / 65
- W Base/All-Out Damage Reduction: 30 / 75% ⇒ 25 / 70%
Yunara
Yunara is the leading candidate for “handshake hyperscaler do nothing” and Riot wants to avoid that becoming the dominant meta, especially heading into Worlds.
- Q – Cultivation of Spirit
- Passive On Hit Damage: 5 / 10 / 15 / 20 / 25 (+20% AP) ⇒ 3 / 8 / 13 / 18 / 23 (+20% AP)
- Active On Hit Damage: 5 / 10 / 15 / 20 / 25 (+20% AP) ⇒ 3 / 8 / 13 / 18 / 23 (+20% AP)
- W – Arc of Judgement
- Slow Stacking: Stacks with other slows ⇒ No longer stacks with other slows
LoL Patch 26.20 Champion Buffs
Diana
While Diana’s assassin build shines, her bruiser builds tend to be lagging a good bit behind. Riot wants to inject a bit more power into that playstyle.
- W – Pale Cascade
- Shield Bonus Health Ratio: 11% ⇒ 14%
Kennen
Riot is looking to stack the odds a bit more in Kennen’s favor and offset the Rocketbelt changes.
- E – Lightning Rush
- Bonus Attack Speed: 40 / 50 / 60 / 70 / 80% ⇒ 50 / 60 / 70 / 80 / 90%
Kindred
Kindred is currently a bit weak, so Riot is giving them buffs in areas that won’t make them much more overwhelming in early invades but still a pretty unique addition to the Worlds meta.
- W – Wolf’s Frenzy
- Monster Mod: 150% ⇒ 165%
- E – Mounting Dread
- Slow Duration: 1s ⇒ 1.5s
- Small Monster Targeting: Enabled ⇒ Removed
Lillia
Last patch, Riot looked to inject a bit more power into Lillia, but it didn’t so enough.
Riot believes there is a bit more room for her in various levels of play, so is following up with another buff that’ll really help her shine.
- R – Lilting Lullaby
- Duration: 2.5s ⇒ 2.5 / 2.75 / 3s
Lucian
Last patch’s adjustment to help normalize mid and bot performance ended up landing as a nerf for bot lane, as many predicted, so Riot is following up with a buff to make up for that lost power.
- Base Stats
- Attack Damage: 60 + 2.5/Level ⇒ 60 + 2.9/Level
Mordekaiser
Windows between Mordekaiser’s ultimates make it hard to keep up with the pace of much of his opposition. His bread and butter (Q) can also feel less impactful as the pace of the game increases, so Riot thinks it can do more damage later on.
- Q – Obliterate
- Scaling Level 10-20: (+5/lvl) ⇒ (+7/lvl)
- R – Realm of Death
- Cooldown: 140 / 120 / 100s ⇒ 120 / 110 / 100s
Neeko
Rocketbelt’s adjustment this patch will probably land as a small nerf for Neeko, so Riot is giving her some minor compensation
- E – Tangle-Barbs
- Base Damage: 70 / 105 / 140 / 175 / 210 (+65% AP) ⇒ 80 / 115 / 150 / 185 / 220 (+65% AP)
- Empowered Root Duration: 1.8 / 2.1 / 2.4 / 2.7 / 3s ⇒ 2 / 2.25 / 2.5 / 2.75 / 3s
Smolder
Smolder has lost quite a bit of power over the last few patches, with the Cleaver ranged nerf and bot lane meta changes disfavoring him significantly.
Riot is further encouraging crit builds to bring his bruiser and full crit builds closer in power.
- Passive – Dragon Practice
- Super Scorcher Bonus Magic Damage: 25 – 55% (+0-9% with IE) of Dragon Practice Stacks, scaling with Crit Chance ⇒ 25 – 60% (+0-10.5% with IE) of Dragon Practice Stacks, scaling with Crit Chance
- Flap Flap Flap Bonus Magic Damage: 8 – 12.8% (+0-1.44% with IE) of Dragon Practice Stacks, scaling with Crit Chance ⇒ 8 – 14% (+0-1.8% with IE) of Dragon Practice Stacks, scaling with Crit Chance
- R – Mmooommmm!
- Self Heal: 100 / 135 / 170 (+50% bonus AD) (+75% AP) ⇒ 100 / 175 / 250 (+75% bonus AD) (+75% AP)
Swain
Riot is giving Swain mid a moderate buff this patch while also making an adjustment that should help normalize his mid and bot lane performance.
- Base Stats
- Base Magic Resistance: 31 ⇒ 34
- Base Armor: 25 ⇒ 23
- W – Vision of Empire
- Damage: 70 / 105 / 140 / 175 / 210 (+60%) ⇒ 70 / 115 / 160 / 205 / 250 (+60%)
- Cooldown: 22 / 21 / 20 / 19 / 18s ⇒ 20 / 19 / 18 / 17 / 16s
Tahm Kench
As one of the tank supports with the lowest health regen, and many health scaling values on his abilities, Tahm Kench lost out on the recent adjustments to the support item. Riot is giving him compensation for that.
- Q – Tongue Lash
- Base Healing: 10 / 13.75 / 17.5 / 21.25 / 25 ⇒ 10 / 20 / 30 / 40 / 50
Vayne
Vayne has settled into a fairly weak spot, and while Riot isn’t totally happy with her top vs bot skew, they believe they’re getting closer.
Riot is adjusting her base stats to help in bot where she needs to deal with more harass, and reverting a mana cost to her Q that simply felt way too bad.
- Base Stats
- Health per 5: 4 + .5/Level ⇒ 5.5 +.4/Level
- Q – Tumble
- Mana Cost: 46 / 42 / 38 / 34 / 30 ⇒ 30
LoL Patch 26.20 Item Changes
Experimental Hexplate
Riot has been fairly unhappy with how this item has played out for ranged users, especially as a first rush in top lane where it makes them too resilient to burst and too lethal during all-ins.
- Ranged Mod: 70% of Value (35% Attack Speed, 14% Move Speed) ⇒ 50% of Value (25% Attack Speed, 10% Move Speed)
Hextech Rocketbelt
Rocketbelt continues to be used a bit too much as an escape compared to a risky engage tool, so Riot is pulling back on its generic value in favor of emphasizing aggressive action with it, especially for AP Bruisers who rely on it for all-ins.
- Ability Haste: 20 ⇒ 10
- Active Damage: 100 (+10% AP) ⇒ 135 (+15% AP)
Runaan’s Hurricane
Riot claims this item was slightly overbuffed, so pulling back on that a bit.
- Attack Damage per Bolt: 65% ⇒ 60%
Scoreboard Cleanup
LoL’s in-game scoreboard has become flooded with information after Riot moved a lot of numbers onto item icons.
As a result, the following items’ icon counters are now hidden on the scoreboard:
- Death’s Dance
- Haunting Guise
- Liandry’s Torment
- Riftmaker
- Kraken Slayer
- Terminus
- Guinsoo’s Rageblade
- Fiendhunter Bolts
- Echoes of Helia
- Dead Man’s Plate
- Spear of Shojin
- Overlord’s Bloodmail
- Hullbreaker
- Jak’sho the Protean
- Force of Nature
LoL Players Now Can’t Download Others’ Replays
Riot has also announced another random game update in that the publisher is making in-game replays private.
This means that, starting with LoL Patch 26.20, players can only access replays from matches they played in and third-party apps & sites will lose access to replay downloads entirely.
Riot states that this is to close “security vulnerabilities” that had recently been exploited to build unauthorized tools around League game data.
However, this means that content creators and pro players now cannot download VODs of other teams to review and learn from.
What are your thoughts on this new update? Let us know on the Insider Gaming Discord.
Meanwhile, Riot has revealed new True Damage skins for League of Legends. And for even more Insider Gaming delivered directly to your inbox, sign up for our newsletter.
An esports journalist for nine years with a focus on LoL Jack has written for national newspapers, interviewed major names, and driven people mad with puns. He's most proud of…
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